The phoenix reborn

“Cut!” Vanessa said in her head. 

As always, Vanessa was daydreaming. She clearly was not a cinema director. Also, Vanessa was not in a film set either. She was just un unhappy journalist traveling in the subway to attend her 9-AM-to-5-PM job at the Popcorn Novelties magazine. Although Vannessa could write the columns at home, she had a schedule to accomplish in order to receive her monthly check.

Because of her job, Vanessa received weekly avant premiére tickets so she could watch the films before anybody else and critique them. Obviously, it was impossible for any human being to watch every new movie aired in the UK. Thus, the Popcorn Novelties' editor, Edison, selected them for her to watch. 

Vanessa had forgotten how to enjoy a play. After studying Aesthetic Studies and dismembering any tiniest detail of the plot, the setting, the lights (and the actors, of course!), Vanessa no longer sat at the theatre just to watch the play.

Business was business. That hellish magazine published every Thursday paid Vanessa for every article written, so she better do her job well. Also, she had to make sure spectators watched the film. Thus, no matter how foolish, absurd, or even misogynistic the play was, Vanessa had to find any remarkable characteristic to incentivize future spectators to watch it.

For some reason, the editor had an awful taste in selecting films for her to watch. Even a school play would have been better than so much rubbish together. Regardless, Edison bought her tickets for her to attend them. Later, Vanessa had to write those articles week by week.

Vanessa looked at herself in the mirror. An unhappy, thirty-year-old, single woman in her pajamas stared back at her. Really? Did she really study for this?

Something had to be done.

Vanessa had always enjoyed the performing arts. She wanted to be an actress, but her parents did not allow her to take acting classes. They paid for her to be a journalist, her mother's frustrated vocation. At college, Vanessa had taken some aesthetics classes, the only ones somehow related to her real passions. Finally, she got her major in journalism with a minor in aesthetics, a degree that perfectly matched with her current job. However, her occupation did not quite fit her aspirations.

Vanessa thought she was too old to take acting classes. Also, Juilliard or any other cool conservatory was far beyond her economic situation.

But something had to be done.

She did not learn how to perform in college, but she learned to write well and engage the readers. At the aesthetic school, she did not learn how to impersonate emotions, but she learned how to express feelings through lights, colors, and costumes. She did not become an actress, but she met a few. Her parents were currently dead. The inherited money was enough to start a new path.

Something had to be done!

The local news announced that the Government organized a script contest. The winner would recive funds to film the play, which premier would be at the summer festival. Vanessa did not think it twice. Vanessa started writing the script of her dreams. Something inspiring and that uplifted the soul. Something any woman her age needed to see to change her life. The phoenix reborn. Two months later, Vanessa got almost hysterical when she won the first prize! Vanessa started working with no delay. 

First, she hired the actors. Vanessa was nervous when asking Alex to be the antagonist because of the sexy vibe he had. Alex accepted, and Vanessa was relieved. He would be such a good antagonist. Leyla, Mariah and Selma were the other characters, impersonated by Snjezana, Lilly and Olivia. The actors had the script. Now Vanessa needed the illumination expert, the costumes, and the stage ready for the actors.

The following weeks Vanessa stayed late at night sewing the clothes for her characters. Vanessa had learned this ability from her mother, who dedicated her whole life to designing high-couture clothes for royalty and the rich. That slaving occupation for her mother now felt like a useful tool for Vanessa.

Then, Vanessa hired the cameraman and the extras. She did not know how to hold a camera but knew everything about framing, film planes, and cuts. Vanessa did not have the budget to clothe all the extras, so she had to trust in their good taste for choosing their own customs. 

The budget was tight, so Vanessa did almost all her marketing plan, tickets, trailer, and review, learning all those skills through YouTube videos. She investigated by herself how to get her copyright protected. Vanessa became her own marketing expert, designer, lawyer, and of course! Her own critic. Vanessa had become, inadvertently, an entrepreneur.

The phoenix reborn would be in the air for July at the City Counsel cinema. Her best friends, cousins, and neighbors would be the first spectators of the play, and Vanessa was really nervous. She was a little bit shy of letting them see her inner expression, wanting that the play was successful and that nobody saw it at the same time. That vulnerability was new for her, always used to write about somebody else’s work. In the back seat, Vanessa started recording lives with the attendees' opinions of the film for uploading them on Facebook and Instagram for publishing and attracting more people.

Her friends loved the film. Her videos became viral. Alex looked really handsome playing the role of the bad guy. The actresses were just the best for their parts. The phoenix reborn was at the same time inspiring, feminist, and witty, with a little bit of humor to make the perfect recipe.

Vanessa felt the real triumph when the mayor, glad at the high attendance the film had had, asked her to display it for another month. Also, the mayor almost prayed to have Vanessa write scripts for the future winter theatre festival. The Government offered so much financing it allowed Vanessa to quit her job at the magazine.

The following month, Vanessa attended The phoenix reborn at the cinema just for the sake of enjoying, gladly and amazed, the result of her own achievement. 

Something had to be done, and it was done.